Detroit Lions: 4 easiest offseason roster decisions for the defense

1. Cut or trade Trey Flowers

Over the last two seasons, Flowers has 3.5 sacks over a combined total of 14 games. His future in Detroit became worthy of speculation when he landed on season-ending IR in early December. In his press conference after the season, Lions’ general manager Brad Holmes seemed to say it all about the veteran edge rusher.

"Yeah, you know Trey, you’re talking about the ultimate glue guy, ultimate leader,” “He’s what we’re all about, in terms of grit and being just a football player. So it was unfortunate what he had to deal with, but again, those discussions are going to be forward down the road.”"

In a case like Flowers’, intangibles are something that’s prominently mentioned when there’s nothing else good to say. He indeed does seem to be a team leader, but he simply hasn’t been healthy enough for long enough to produce much since his first season with the Lions in 2019.

Moving on from Flowers this offseason won’t necessarily be easy. If he’s cut before June 1, $12.85 million of his $23.2 million cap hit for 2022 would be dead money (after June 1, the dead money drops to $7.2 millon). A trade would be more helpful on the cap for the Lions, and heading into the 2021 trade deadline there appeared to be some level of a market for him.

However it happens, it’s more likely Flowers has already played his last snap for the Lions than it is that he’ll be on the roster come the start of training camp. A prominent remnant of the Matt Patricia era will be gone.

Bonus easy Detroit Lions offseason roster decision for the defense: Re-sign Tracy Walker